SKT’s 5G fronthaul tech named national standard

This article was authored by Dylan Bushell-Embling, and was originally posted on telecomasia.net.

SK Telecom has announced that its self-developed 5G fronthaul technology has been adopted as a Korean national standard by the nation's Telecommunications Technology Association.

The operator has developed a fronthaul specification designed as an open standard to help small and mid-sized vendors and startups enter the market, in contrast to LTE fronthaul where major vendors used their own specifications.

In 5G networks, fronthaul will be the wired connection between the distributed units of base stations and the central units of the network, which will all be gathered in a single location for easier management and maintenance.

SK Telecom said it plans to work with local vendors to develop network equipment meeting the standard's specifications, and will seek opportunities to have the specifications adopted as a global 3GPP standard.

“In the world of 5G, where data transmission volume goes large along with a dramatic increase in the types of services available on the network, open standard-based fronthaul architecture is critical,” SK Telecom head of network technology R&D Park Jin-hyo said.

“We are committed to boosting the growth of the 5G ecosystem in collaboration with local vendors and start-ups.”